


Komaeda’s Perfect Vocabulary Class

by snowharasho



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Awkward Friendship, Fluff, M/M, Two disasters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:34:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21917656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowharasho/pseuds/snowharasho
Summary: Komaeda has been failing his language classes because of his over-reliance on a certain word. A concerned Yukizome sends him for tuition under Class 78’s straight A student, Ishimaru. What could go wrong?(Komaeda gets tuition from Ishimaru. It goes about as well as you’d expect.)
Relationships: Ishimaru Kiyotaka/Komaeda Nagito
Comments: 3
Kudos: 45





	Komaeda’s Perfect Vocabulary Class

Komaeda stood in front of the staff room door. It was not unusual for him to be called to the staff room, for his unpredictable luck routinely dragged him into all sorts of troubles, so one could say Komaeda was used to the familiar office. However this time, Komaeda did not have a clue as to why he was summoned here - as far as he knew, he had not accidentally caused any fires, or injured any poor students (of the Ultimate variety, to be specific), or blew up a gymnasium. So his being here right now was a mystery.

Nonetheless, Komaeda was not one to question his teacher, so he patiently waited to be called inside. Surely, his teacher would have the answers he had hoped for. And sure enough, not long after he heard a click of the doorknob and Yukizome poked her head out, beckoning Komaeda inside.

Komaeda entered the room as Yukizome led her to her cubicle. Perhaps it was weird, but he could not help but feel a little bit excited. After all, this was where all the wonderful, talented staff of Hope’s Peak Academy resided.

“Komaeda-kun, you can have a seat over there.”

“Of course!” Komaeda replied and sat down. Yukizome rubbed her forehead and Komaeda noticed some dark shadows under her eyes.

She pulled her own chair over and sat down, with a tense expression on her face. “So, Komaeda-kun, do you have any idea why I called you here?”

Komaeda thought for a moment. “Not at all. Is something the matter?”

Yukizome could not hold back a sigh. Her brows furrowed even more. “Komaeda-kun, I called you here because I’m getting concerned.”

Concern? Could it be about that time Yukizome wanted to talk to him about his attitude? “Ah, there is no need for someone as hopeful as you to be concerned about trash like me! Rather, Yukizome-sensei should focus on inspiring the hope of my much more hopeful classmates.”

Komaeda thought he saw her eye twitch slightly at the word ‘trash’ but ignored it. She must be lacking in sleep, he thought.

“Firstly, I already told you to stop talking about yourself like that! You’re not trash! Secondly, that’s not even why I called you here!”

Komaeda was surprised. “It’s not?”

“No!” She slammed the table in her exasperation, before looking around in shock and shrinking back into her chair. She coughed nervously. “I mean, you just said hope three times in one sentence!”

Komaeda’s eyes widened. “No, I’m pretty sure I said it three times in two sentences-“

“You get what I mean!” Yukizome cut him off, before giving a wry smile. “Anyway, it’s become a bit of a problem…” She pulled out a stack of papers from under the desk, and showed it to her student. “Do you recognise these papers?”

Komaeda leaned in to look closer. “These are… love letters to a ‘Kyosuke-kun’?”

Yukizome let out a small shriek, and her face instantly flushed red as she forcefully snatched the papers away. With a huff, she shoved them back into the cabinet as she pulled out a different stack of papers. This time, she scanned through them before presenting them to Komaeda.

“Forget what you just saw! These ones! Do you recognise these ones!”

Komaeda was kind enough not to say anything to fluster his poor teacher anymore, and instantly he recognised his own handwriting, along with a lot of red marks that made his heart sink a little. “Oh, it’s the essay I wrote for the exam.”

“That’s right! And this right here is your big problem!” She let Komaeda flip through his papers, and watched as his lips curled into a frown.

“Oh.” Komaeda muttered, unable to hide his disappointment. The red ink was present all throughout his essay, and he could not help but notice most of the red marks were circling his favourite word, and Komaeda tried not to let his displeasure show, but it was evident on his face.

Yukizome could sense her student’s growing despair and attempted to cheer him up a little. “It’s not all bad! In fact, I think Komaeda-kun brings up a lot of good points, and overall I think it’s great, but… well, we could work on your choice of adjectives...”

Now, Komaeda did not think there was a better, more all-encompassing descriptor than “hope”. There were an infinite range of things that could only be described by “hope”, which is why he might have used the word and its variations about 24 times in this essay alone.

“Anyway, just to make this clear, I wasn’t in charge of marking this.” Yukizome commented. “I’m well aware of your, um, _obsession_ with hope. But these guys marking it don’t…” She grabbed Komaeda’s and gave him a sincere look. “That’s why, as your teacher, I want to help you! So I asked around and I think I have a solution!”

She grinned confidently, in a way Komaeda could only describe as being full of hope. No, Komaeda definitely was not obsessed with the word, and he still did not see the problem, but he was definitely not going to turn down his teacher’s desire to help.

“What may that solution be?” Komaeda asked.

Yukizome’s hopeful smile grew wider. “I’m going to get you your very own personal tutor.”

Komaeda blinked slowly.

“Come again?”

—————

Komaeda stood outside of a rather imposing door, feeling rather out of place. He was standing outside the room of a certain Ultimate Hall Monitor, awkwardly holding his essay papers in one hand and raising the other mid-knock before realising the dorms were probably soundproof like his own and he would have to ring the doorbell.

He could feel a few of his juniors, or rather, much more talented Ultimates, glancing at him curiously. It was rare that he would be on this floor, usually he would spend most of his time in his dorm or tagging along with his class.

He still could hardly believe that Yukizome had sent him to Ishimaru for tuition! Komaeda was hardly worth his time, but his teacher had so strongly insisted, and mentioned that he had already informed the other student and it would be rude to back out, that Komaeda had no choice to oblige.

Komaeda had barely talked to Ishimaru before, but he certainly did not feel like he was deserving of being tutored by such an amazing, talented individual! It was a privilege that he did not deserve in the slightest.

It would be rude to keep him waiting, so Komaeda eventually pushed the button. Within seconds, the door clicked open and Ishimaru opened the door to welcome his guest.

“You must be Komaeda-senpai! Yukizome-sensei told me all about you!” The other student greeted, bowing respectfully.

“Yes, and you must be Ishimaru-kun, the Ultimate Hall Monitor! It is a great pleasure to meet you!”

Komaeda offered out a hand to shake, and Ishimaru gave it a confused look before taking his hand and shaking it.

“Oh! Same here! I have heard many things about you!”

It seemed like his reputation preceded him. “And I have heard many wonderful things about you too. You truly are the shining symbol of hope for your class!”

“Is… that so?” Ishimaru’s smile faltered. Komaeda simply continued smiling and shaking his hand. “Um, you should come in.”

“Ah, yes, please excuse me.” Ishimaru slowly let go of his hand as Komaeda placed his shoes in the shoe rack. Immediately, he noticed how neat Ishimaru’s shoes were, and soon he realised that the entire room looked immaculate.

Komaeda couldn’t help but quiver in excitement.

Ishimaru led Komaeda into the room and let him make himself comfortable on the chair. Komaeda placed his papers on the desk as Ishimaru brought over a tea set.

“Ah, you don’t have to-“

“No, I insist!”

Ishimaru carefully poured the tea into two cups and offered one to his upperclassman, who graciously accepted.

Komaeda took a sip, and the tip of his tongue went numb from the hot tea.

“D-dewicious!” Komaeda exclaimed, sticking his tongue out to let it cool.

Ishimaru gave him a worried expression. “Please drink it slowly! It’s still hot.”

Komaeda nodded and smiled as usual. Ishimaru slowly looked down at the papers Komaeda had brought with him.

“May I look at them?”

Komaeda nodded. Ishimaru took the papers and as he read the essay, his distinct brows furrowed even more, his displeasure growing with every red circle.

Oh dear. However, looking on the bright side, Komaeda would be able to experience first-hand one of his fellow schoolmate’s ‘famous’ lectures! If he could be used as a stepping stone to bring out Ishimaru’s true hope, then-

“Komaeda-senpai? Are you listening?”

Komaeda snapped back to reality. Ishimaru was staring at him with a look of disapproval.

“Sorry, could you repeat that?”

“Yes… Yes, well, I definitely understand why Yukizome-sensei asked me to tutor you now.” Ishimaru plopped the essay onto the table and pointed at the red ink. “I’m sure you understand that a good essay requires not just a good underlying structure, but a broad range of vocabulary to bring your point across! Here, Komaeda-senpai has used ‘hope’ 24 times!”

 _He counted_ , Komaeda thought as he nodded in understanding. Somehow that made him excited - it showed just how meticulous Ishimaru truly was!

“In fact, there are many other words you could use to achieve the same meaning, no, to strengthen the core essay!” Ishimaru’s eyes seemed to light up. “Naturally, I will do all I can to assist you!”

Ishimaru marched to his shelves and picked out a few books and brought them back to the desk.

A guide on how to write the perfect essay, a thesaurus, and what caught Komaeda’s eyes the most was a small blue notebook with Ishimaru’s name written neatly in the corner. _This truly was his lucky day_ , Komaeda thought. To be able to get a glimpse inside the Ultimate Hall Monitor’s notes was something he could never imagine would actually happen to him.

“Senpai, is something the matter?” Ishimaru caught him staring blankly again.

“Oh, no, I was just thinking about how wonderful your handwriting is.”

“W-wonderful?!” Ishimaru sputtered. He had no idea what to do about the compliment. “Thank you? I practiced a lot!”

Ishimaru looked down and flipped open the books. “By the way, is there any reason why you use the word ‘hope’ so much? From what I see, Komaeda-kun seems to have a good grasp of the language-“

A switch instantly went off inside Komaeda’s head. He laughed. “No, no! I wouldn’t say that at all! I am nothing compared to you and the other Ultimates!”

Ishimaru looked confused. “But, it’s much better than some of my other classmates?”

Komaeda continued. “As for why I use the word ‘hope’ so much. The simple reason is that I love ‘hope’! There are so many infinite things that can only be described by ‘hope’! Don’t you think so?”

“Um. Not really-“

“Of course! You’re absolutely correct! The opposite of ‘hope’ is ‘despair’, and without ‘despair’ there is no ‘hope’, so surely ‘despair’ is also-“

“No, there are many other words that could be substituted for both ‘hope’ and ‘despair’...?”

Komaeda stopped. “Really? Like what?”

“Well, it depends on the sentence. For example, here, you wrote ‘I believe that the act of recycling would be hopeful to the talented people in our society’. I believe you could use some other words instead!”

“Such as?”

“Beneficial?”

“Why yes, ‘beneficial’! I had thought of that, but I don’t think it carries quite the same weight as ‘hopeful’.”

“I… disagree!” Ishimaru seemed to be struggling. “In fact, I think it’s much more fitting in this case…”

“If you say so! I’ll keep that in mind next time.” The opinion of an Ultimate was worth more than his own, of course.

He was also well aware of how irritating he seemed to everyone else when he rambled about hope. Not that he minded.

“Huh? Oh! That’s good.” Ishimaru was taken aback by the quick agreement. “Then let’s move on!”

“Sure.”

Ishimaru pointed at some pages from his notes and Komaeda could not help but marvel at how well-organised it was. The notes were colour-coded and written neatly into different sections.

“In order to enhance your essay, you could also change up the sentence structure to help avoid using the same words.”

“I see!”

“If you need help with finding the appropriate synonyms, you could consult a thesaurus!”

“Yes, that makes sense!”

“And then… um…” Ishimaru paused and glanced at his upperclassman. “Aren’t you going to take notes?”

“Oh right, notes! I completely forgot. I shall take them down now.”

“O-oh…” Ishimaru waited for Komaeda to take out some pen and paper as he began to write down what Ishimaru had mentioned earlier. When Komaeda had scribbled down all he remembered, he looked back up and saw that Ishimaru was biting his lip.

“Is something wrong, Ishimaru-kun?”

“Huh? Ah! No, I just…” Ishimaru trailed off, looking down at the desk. “You have just been agreeing to everything I said, so I wondered if I were being too pushy again…”

“Pushy? Absolutely not!” Komaeda gasped, horrified. “I love to hear what you have to say!”

Ishimaru appeared to be unconvinced. “Komaeda-senpai was disagreeing with me earlier, so I was surprised when you suddenly stopped.”

“Well, everyone tells me I’m rather annoying when I talk too much.” Komaeda laughed it off like a joke, like he’d always done before.

He did not expect the other man to start sniffling.

“You too?” Ishimaru sobbed. In this instant Komaeda knew he had messed up.

Komaeda froze. _What had he done?!_

“Ishimaru-kun?” Instinctively, Komaeda reached for some tissues and offered them to the trembling boy.

“Everyone says that about me too,” Ishimaru spoke, softer than usual as he rubbed his teary eyes. “I don’t think Komaeda-senpai is annoying.” He added.

Komaeda could not help but experience a foreign warm yet aching feeling in his chest. He understood why others would find _him_ weird or annoying, but Ishimaru? A part of him wanted to believe that the hall monitor was just saying things, but his words and actions felt genuine.

Perhaps the two of them were similar, in a way Komaeda had never thought about.

The other boy continued to sob and the tissue had become soggy. Komaeda had no idea how to comfort him although he desperately wanted to. So he put an awkward hand on his shoulder and gave it a few pats.

“Ishimaru-kun isn’t annoying,” Komaeda affirmed, refraining from overloading him with the usual praises in fear it might cause him to cry again. Unfortunately, Ishimaru’s sobs only grew louder as Komaeda’s pats intensified in alarm.

“U-uuwah…”

He was still crying. Komaeda had seriously no idea what to do, and he was utterly mortified that _he made an Ultimate cry. Think, Nagito, think!_

Unable to come up with anything else, Komaeda recalled what his parents would do to cheer him up back when they were alive, and made his way over to give Ishimaru a hug.

He had never hugged anyone in a long time, so this felt strange, and Ishimaru seemed shocked at the sudden contact. Nonetheless, Komaeda had committed to the hug, and gently patted the other boy’s back in an attempt to soothe him.

Eventually, Ishimaru’s breathing relaxed, and he mumbled a quiet apology for his outburst. Komaeda was just relieved to see he was alright.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me…”

“No, I should be the one apologising…”

Komaeda did feel bad. In fact, he felt _awful_ , and he supposed something bad had to happen today. There was no way the universe would let him spend time alone with such an amazing person without anything going wrong.

Still, he could not help but think about Ishimaru’s words, and dare he say it, he could feel a small connection with the Ultimate Hall Monitor.

“Are you feeling better, Ishimaru-kun?” Komaeda looked down with a small smile as he pulled away from the hug.

Ishimaru nodded with puffy eyes. “Yes. Yes, I am… Thank you, senpai.”

“Then, do you feel like continuing? Or should we call it a day?” Komaeda felt like pushing his luck.

Ishimaru looked up at him. “I would like to continue. If you don’t mind!”

Komaeda’s laugh felt lighter than usual. “Of course. Please teach me more, Ishimaru-kun.”

Ishimaru smiled back, his face still red. “I will!”

**Author's Note:**

> (written by my sister!)
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I don't know. I just thought it would be funny to see them bonding over their loneliness- I mean, horrible social skills. Of course there's the whole thing about their opposite views on talent but that would make this fic longer and probably get out of hand... but yes. I think they're interesting. Their V3 bonus mode scene is one of my favourites.


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